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GQUAL research and resources

At GQUAL, we believe that the development of standards and the identification of good practices serve as important instruments to mobilize change and help to conceptualize the importance of female participation in international justice.

To do this, we develop inputs and research, and create opportunities for collaboration with different actors in order to deepen our understanding of the causes, consequences, and possible solutions regarding the lack of women in these spaces.

To continue, we include some of these investigations we have developed:

  • Viviana Krsticevic, Gender Parity in International Bodies and Tribunals: A Possible Advance with Global Impact. A conceptual document for the launch of the GQUAL Campaign, September, 2015.
  • Claudia Martin, Article 8 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women: An Essential Step in Ensuring Gender Parity in International Bodies and Courts, September, 2015. 
  • GQUAL, Presentation of GQUAL Campaign to the United Nations Secretary General in the reform process of the UN treaty bodies, May, 2019.
  • GQUAL, Submission by GQUAL to the Call for Written Contributions by the Co-Facilitators for the Review of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Body System, May, 2020.
  • GQUAL, Inputs and Recommendations for the preparation of the Report of the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council regarding the gender balance in international bodies as mentioned in Resolution 41/6 of the Human Rights Council from July 11, 2019, June, 2019.
  • GQUAL, Report on Campaign Activities, December, 2019.
  • GQUAL, Proposals presented before the Human Rights Council Advisory Group promoting the adoption of the gender parity guidelines for the selection of members in Special Proceedings:

    • Open Letter to Members of the HRC Consultative Group: Selection of candidates for the Special Rapporteur on Torture in April 2022.
    • Letter to the President of the UN Human Rights Council about the Special Rapporteur on Torture in May 2022.
    • Letter sent to the Human Rights Council Advisory Group in May of 2020.
    • Letter sent to the Human Rights Council Advisory Group in May of 2019.
    • Letter sent to the Human Rights Council Advisory Group in May of 2018.
    • Letter sent to the Human Rights Council Advisory Group in December of 2017.
    • Letter sent to the Human Rights Council Advisory Group in 2017. Written jointly with elements of civil society and interested parties.
  • Open Letter sent to States Parties to protect gender parity and diverse representation on UN Disability Committee CRPD, May 2022.
  • Open letter from civil society regarding the serious lack of funding for human rights organizations to the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the ONU, May 2019.
  • Letter to the CEDAW Committee to submit, by way of suggestion, a list of questions they could use to ask States Parties under Article 8 of the Convention as well as to help guide the drafting of the Final Recommendations, 2016.
  • Letter to Catalina Devandas, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, requesting her intervention before the Human Rights Council Advisory Group and encouraging its new members to adopt Parity Guidelines for the selection of Special Procedures members, March 2018.
  • Letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to present the GQUAL Campaign and to open new channels of dialogue, March 2019.
  • Joint letter from international human rights NGOs and the GQUAL Campaign to States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, July 2020.
  • Joint letter with CEJIL and Amnesty International urging Argentina to take gender parity into account and develop transparent and participatory nomination procedures, November 2020. 
  • Public Statement of the GQUAL Campaign during the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, February 2021.
  • Public Statement of the GQUAL Campaign during International Women’s Month, March 2021.
  • Public Statement of the GQUAL Campaign during #IWD, 2022.
  • Joint letter: GQUAL, IRCT, MENA Rights Group, OMCT, Amnesty, ISHR  and REDRESS call for gender parity in the next composition of the Committee Against Torture, February 2023.
  • Written submission of the GQUAL Campaign to the CEDAW Committee for the new General Recommendation on the “Equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems”, February 2023.
  • Oral Statement of the GQUAL Campaign to the CEDAW Committee for the new General Recommendation on the “Equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems”, February 2023.
  • Join letter: NGOs call for gender parity in the next composition of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, February 2023.
  • Public Statement of the GQUAL Campaign during #IWD, 2023.

GQUAL Conference Resources

Working documents and conclusions from the different workshops of the Conference:

  • Working documents and recommendations from the workshops regarding the election of members to treaty bodies.
  • Working documents and recommendations from the workshops regarding the election of members to the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
  • Working documents and recommendations from the workshop about the election of members to the International Court of Justice.
  • Working documents and recommendations from the workshop regarding the election of members to International Penal Courts.
  • Working document from the workshop about nomination processes.
  • Press release published by Arbitral Women about the Conference organized by GQUAL.
  • Press Release published by the International Criminal Court Bar Association in the framework of the Conference.
  • Press Release published by IlntLawGrrls at the Conference.
  • Press Release published by CDH from the UBA Faculty of Law.
  • Press Release published by IDLO at the Conference.
  • Press Release by GQUAL during the Conference.
  • Video made by GQUAL during the Conference.
  • Video in which Veronica Hinestroza (IBAHRI) gives her opinion about the first day of the Conference.
  • Video in which Nani Jansen Reventlow (Digital Freedom Fund) gives her opinion about the opening ceremony of the Conference.

In conjunction with the University of Buenos Aires’ Center for Human Rights, a study was carried out to examine the history of women in fields of international justice (treaty bodies, special rapporteurs, international tribunals, etc). In the first report, the general objective was to identify the level to which female participation in international tribunals and monitoring bodies increased in the last fifteen years. For this, we analyzed the composition of these organizations as surveyed by GQUAL in four key timeframes: 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. In a second investigation, the objective was to analyze the nominations made by Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay to international bodies between the years 2000 and 2016. In another stage, a secondary analysis was carried out to examine the 2018 nominations of Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the United States, Canada, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay. You can access the investigative reports here and here. 

Another study was carried out with Berkeley University’s International Human Rights Law Clinic. The study sought out to identify the legal bases in international law (outside of the CEDAW Convention) that exist that establish States to promote gender parity in international justice and related fields. You can access that study here.